Is She Stressed?

[oakeydoak1]

Have posted this in the Border Collie thread but thought I would post here too..............

Hi all, wondering if any of you can help me with a problem I have with my BC female. She is 5 months old. I am a long time bc owner and now breeder but have never had this problem before and dont quite know how to deal with it. Was hoping you guys may have some suggestions.

The problem I have is that for hte last month or so when she is in her yard she is continuously running around her yard in a figure 8. It is almost like it is an obssesion. If you yell at her she will stop for a couple of moments but then continue again. As soon as she goes in there she starts.

At first I thought it might be a "scared" reaction. She is a very timid dog and I thought her "fear period" might just be extra long/bad but then when I went to put her away last night she raced to her yard and jumped up at her gate. I wouldnt think she would do this if she was scared.

She isnt stuck in her yard all the time. She is probably out at least 4-6 hours a day if not more apart from the two days I work. Her yard is very large (about half the size of an average sized house). When she is out she plays with the other 4 borders, has some training and goes for walks/runs around the property or goes to work with my husband (farm work).

I have tried giving her "toys" to keep her occupied when I am at work and she is in her yard but as she is not food orientated things like Kongs and Treat Balls she doesnt care about.

Any suggestions on what may cause this behaviour/how I can stop it?

Should I change the yard she is in or make her a house dog, obviously making her a house dog has its own problems, the way our house is set out she would have to go into a yard whilst I am at work anyway?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[becks]

The only dog I had (a mongrel) who ran in particular areas of the garden so much she ran away the lawn, later developed epilipsey, the running was one of the warning signs for it.

[asal]

if theres one thing a border collie can be obsessed about is "working" some if there is nothing to work will make up their own. our neighbour had over an acre of fenced in lawn for his two and they ran themselves ragged regardless of the weather.

i remember one summer the male was fitting on the ground. they called us in panic and considering it was some 113 deg F. i turned on the hose and saturated him and within 5 minutes he was up and off again. in his case i think he thought he was rounding up the birds as they flew over the place as for anything that actually landed. he and his mum would be stalking and trying to herd them. then when they flew off they would be running stupid again looking for the next bird it seemed to be and yes no birds they just ran patterns.

we had one as a kid and he was a nighmare jumping out and rounding up the kids on the way to school. his record was 15 too scared to get to the bus stop.

when my chooks got out, problem solved he spent all day eyeing them from one part of the yard to the other. happy dog, disgusted chooks. if the rooster got sick of him he would attack the border and pull chunks of hair out of him, stupid bird nearly choked himself one day when neiger was moulting.

[Bisart Dobes]

Sounds like she is practicing her working skills. But I would get her checked thoroughly by a vet just to make sure there is nothing underlying like the 2nd post.